


Hospital Beds

by Seagoatink



Series: Calm of the Storm [3]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: EDI - Freeform, F/F, Fluff, Grunt - Freeform, Joker - Freeform, Lieutenant Cortez
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 09:03:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6797698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seagoatink/pseuds/Seagoatink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When news of her survival reached the Normandy the crew called her Commander “I’d have gotten to the Citadel without the damn leg just to make sure Liara is safe” Shepard. On the other side of the hospital room, Cortez agreed that she was Commander “My ass hurts, let me get up” Shepard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

In the heat of battle, the reapers were wiped out. All forces, asari, human, turian, salarian, all of them knew Commander Shepard was responsible. On the comms, in all languages, all frequencies shared cheers and laughter and cries of relief. The celebrating could be heard everywhere for days, but no one was allowed on the Citadel save for those with the highest clearance. 

Two weeks passed and the Alliance released news on the death of Admiral Anderson. Not one word of Commander Shepard. The Alliance restricted alien access to their medical ships. Even high clearance personnel were not allowed on board. The wait was quiet and the silence made it seem even longer.

Despite incredible firewalls and passcodes made by human forces, Glyph intercepted a message to Maelon Heplorn and reported it to Liara as soon as she returned to her room aboard the Normandy. “Other Salarians are also permitted to board, however it appears Maelon is the only one permitted communications and freedom to travel,” the AI informed the Shadow Broker.

Liara skurried to her desk to check the information herself. “And Admiral Hackett still hasn’t returned our messages?” She inquired. Her eyes skittered back and forth over the screen as she scanned each line in hopes of finding news on Commander Shepard.

“There are no messages from Admiral Hackett, Liara,” Glyph informed.

There was a ding over the intercom, signaling Liara that EDI had a message for her. “Perhaps you should inquire about Lieutenant Cortez.”

The asari was silent for a moment save for her breathing as she finished reading over the intercepted message for the third time. She inhaled through her nose deeply, closing her eyes and pressed herself into her chair’s backrest.

“It is possible that one of the medical officers will slip up and speak of news on Commander Shepard,” EDI offered.

To her right, the door to her room opened up revealing Dr. Chakwas. “Liara, dear, I need to you come with me,” she announced casually, well aware that she was interrupting the asari’s obsessive search for news on their commander. “I know you’re looking for news on Shepard, but I believe there may be a better way to find it.”

Those were words Liara wanted to hear. Everyone on board was waiting for news on Commander Shepard but no one was any closer than anyone else in terms of finding and having actual, solid information. She steadied her breathing and turned to the grey haired human. “What did you have in mind?”

As it turned out, the asari were not the only ones to keep thorough records on their people’s relationships. However, the Alliance was far more interested in crewmates, human or otherwise, of their higher ups, and Shepard certainly was higher up. Liara, Garrus, and Tali, and even Wrex and Grunt were all listed as her crewmates, details that only Chakwas seemed to be aware of. “Come with me,” the medical doctor instructed, leading Liara back to the med bay.

Liara had hardly touched the med bay. It was where she spent most of her time in the original Normandy, but this one was different. Colby had made sure she had plenty of room to run her operations as the Shadow Broker, an offer only made by her. The asari clearly didn’t trust her, and she knew because the commander had spoken to whoever they assigned to keep tabs on Liara. She hesitated to sit on the cots but decided it was best. So she hopped up and made herself comfortable, pulling her knees to her chest. She stayed quiet in hopes that Doctor Chakwas would explain.

“I’m going to make a little call to Admiral Hackett about your health and state of well-being,” the good doctor informed with confidence.

Just as Liara was about to protest, the sound of Admiral Hackett’s voice invaded the medical bay, “How can I help you, Karin?” The asari was astounded. There was no way she knew that the admiral and Dr. Chakwas were on a first name basis.

“Steven, the crew is strained. Even our XO is beginning to show signs of severe stress.” Admiral Hackett tried to say something but Dr. Chakwas cut him off, “I understand that whatever has happened to our commander it is under wraps. But I urge you to at least give her asari bondmate some news. It wouldn’t hurt to have some moral either.” She paused and breathed in deeply. Her eyes flickered from the comm speaker to Liara. Even she wasn’t sure if her plan would pan out the way she wanted it to, but there was no sense in not trying.

The speakers were quiet, but he did not end the call. That was a good sign at least. The admiral let out a heavy sigh. “Alright,” he said, “I am transferring over to the medical facility shortly. Cortez is with her, so he’s seen her awake more than I have.”

“I’m going to need you to do better than that-”

Liara lifted her head. “Admiral Hackett, I request permission to board the medical ship in seven hours to see Commander Shepard.”

There was only a moment’s hesitation. “Granted,” Hackett informed her.


	2. Different from a Funeral

Commander Shepard had nearly lost a leg. The particle beam of the last reaper faltered just long enough during its final blast. From Shepard’s first hand account, she assumed the majority of her wounds were either caused by the reaper-turian brutes, the reaper asari biotics, or by the exploding transport vehicles hit by the reaper itself.

When Liara arrived at her hospital room, the commander was asleep, resting peacefully. The nurse informed her that Shepard no longer needed major respiratory assistance, but to be safe they kept her on oxygen. The tubes ran from behind her bed and over her top lip, into her nose. The asari edged closer to the bed and eventually sat at Shepard’s good side. She held the commander’s hand in her own, running her thumb over the burnt and charred bits of her skin. Of all the things to happen to the seemingly indestructible woman, Liara realized that seeing her hurt was worse than seeing her dead.

Dead was such a sure thing, or at least it had been at one point. Before Cerberus revived Shepard, dead was a very, very certain state of being. But seeing her wounded, damaged, and broken to bits made Liara feel powerless in the situation. The only thing she could do was hope and pray to the Goddess that her love would get better. There was no sense in yelling at Shepard’s doctors and nurses to do their job better. Everyone was repairing from war efforts. While the dead outnumbered the living and wounded, the wounded and living were still countless.

A door from inside the hospital room opened, the sound of a flushing toilet was muffled as the door slid closed again. “Doctor T’Soni?”

Liara stood. That was Cortez’s voice. “Lieutenant!” She exclaimed, surprised by his presence even though Admiral Hackett had informed her that he was sharing a room with Shepard.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” he admitted. “I’ve only seen Admiral Hackett and the routine medical staff.”

“Ah, yes, he told me you would be here. I assumed you might be out for food or a walk,” Liara said, glancing back at Commander Shepard before walking towards the shuttle pilot.

He flashed a knowing smile in attempt to sooth the asari’s nerves. “Well, they want me to start doing walks, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if you walked with me,” he offered. When Liara held out her arm for support, he gratefully took it. “Thanks, it’s been pretty uneventful now that the commander’s stable.”

They began walking down the hallway, though Cortez struggled much more than Liara. She had heard the lieutenant had been wounded by a brute when his shuttle landed and he attempted to make fast repairs. His breathing was still off because of it, but thanks to therapy he was doing much better. Admiral Hackett had offered Cortez’s information instead of Shepard’s for security purposes, and Liara studied it not only in hopes of finding information on her bondmate but also out of concern for her fellow crew member.

“I know you’re worried about the commander, Liara, but…” Cortez glanced around the lounge area. It was full of people with casts on, some with oxygen tanks, and others with severe burns and patches. “She’s a trooper. They stabilized her a week ago, she almost slipped a week ago. But they took care of it. Put me in her room and she seems to sleep a lot better now.”

“It’s hard to see her banged up. I saw her dead, attended her funeral, but this… This is much different.”

Cortez shrugged, “Shepard’s got you looking out for her, you and everyone in the damned Alliance. She’s got turians lookin’ out for her, asari, quarians, the whole planet of Tchanka-”

Liara flashed a smile and placed her hand over his. “I’m beginning to see your point, Lieutenant,” she said.

“I bet you could get her flowers from the gift shop if they’ve got one!”


	3. Not Heaven Not Hell

The ilium and iliac crest of Colby’s pelvis had been blown away, which was more than Liara had initially thought. It wasn’t as bad as it sounded with the advances human medicine was making with the help of the Salarians as well as the massive amount of injured that doctors were caring for and learning from at the hospital. 

Cortez was healing faster than his doctor had projected, but due to the situation with Commander Shepard, it was decided best for the both of them to not move him to another floor.

Liara was returning Cortez to the room from another walk. As she neared the doorway she could hear Admiral Hackett talking to the commander inside the room. “I look like something out of one of those old zombie horror vids, don’t I?” Shepard asked. Liara could practically see her openly stupid smile growing across her face. At least a third of her teeth were missing and she still had bruises everywhere. With all the medigel wasted on her, anyone would assume she would hardly be coherent. Instead, she was capable of sitting up. She was completely able to complain about her ass hurting. And the nurses even joked about her complaints and utter dislike for the catheter. 

The admiral laughed heartily. He was probably glad to see she had made it out of the disaster alive. The jokes were an added bonus. “More like the old hack and slash horror vids,” he offered as Liara entered the room with Cortez.

Shepard laughed openly. An ashy creaking sound filled the room, but was abruptly interrupted when the commander winced and rolled away from the door. The position was short lived as the sensitivity from her missing iliac crest sent her thrashing away from her side.

Liara was quick to her bondmate’s side, trusting Cortez to follow the wall back to his bed. Walking had become easier for him in the past few weeks. The asari made herself comfortable next to Colby and ran her fingers through the woman’s hair. “It’s alright,” she murmured gently, hoping her presence was reassuring enough to get her through the experience.

Her hand rested comfortably on Liara’s thigh. She was real. She was right there and real, not some angel from a dream. The pain was real, even if it was dull and distant as a side effect from the massive amount of medigel she was on. “Hey, Admiral,” Colby said, still wincing from pain, but doing her best to work around it.

“Yes, Commander?”

“Why the tight security?” Shepard asked. He had let it slip earlier that he was responsible for the lockdown shortly following the destruction of the reapers. “I know it’s more than making it hard for reporters to gain access.”

“No offense, Commander, but I wasn’t sure you were going to make it,” Admiral Hackett admitted. “And there’s no Cerberus or Illusive Man to bring you back from the dead. The Alliance sure as Hell couldn’t afford it.”

Shepard grimaced as she repositioned herself. “And there’s no way the council would OK the use of funds,” she agreed dismally. Her healing process would have exceeded expectations had Miranda made it back from the suicide mission along with half the crew on the other side of the Omega 4 relay. Yeoman Chambers crossed her mind. Shepard pressed her lips together, trying not to cringe at the thought. There were few worse ways to die than to be turned into genetic goo for the construction of a reaper.

Shepard gagged.

“Are you alright?” Liara fussed. Her free hand held steady at the human woman’s ribs, a safe distance away from her missing bone. It was still unnerving to actually think about and consider how it happened, let alone the pain her bondmate must have endured simply to stop the Reapers.

Her commander was a prime example of how and why humans had lasted and persevered through so much, especially in the majorly one-sided war with the turians. No matter the hardship, humans got the job done. Though their lives were short compared to the asari, humans were incredibly durable and persistent. “Don’t worry, I’m fine…” Shepard rasped. “It’d be better if they let me get up and use the restroom myself though. And don’t get me started on no food. Damn IVs and their nutrition,” Shepard pouted, doing her best to lighten the mood.

There was nothing more tiring than being fussed over day and night. Well, almost nothing. Now that she was thinking about it, she’d rather not piss through a catheter. It was nice, however, not killing reapers or their shit-spawn hordes.


	4. Human Humor

Non-human personel were granted leave to their homeworlds or ships to assist in whatever efforts they could. As those with the most experience, they were front-runners and pathmakers. Peacemakers and peacekeepers even. 

Tali, Ambassador of the Floatilla and Rannoch, was sent for emergency set up and work with Geth that lasted through the major blast that destroyed the Reapers for good. Many made it, but the massive system repairs were something she could assist with. And thanks to their offers and ideas in assisting the Quarians to re-adapt to their homeworld, the Geth were insured safety. As a leading member and such a talented, young Quarian with the most experience with the Geth, she was head of the efforts to repair them.

Garrus was higher than he had been in the hierarchy, though he still wasn’t favored due to his inability to follow orders and instead making rules himself to follow. Still, his efforts had broken way to save Palaven. Primarch Victus relied heavily on his opinions and experience. Not to mention, he had a way of leading those who followed him with confidence.

Wrex had left with Bakura back to Tuchanka to ensure a civil war wouldn’t ensue. They did leave Grunt in charge of a team of other krogan to help on Earth with relief efforts. The team also doubled as a cleanup crew, doing the brunt of most work and heavy lifting.

Liara had been asked to help Thessia, but it was understood that she would likely not leave her bondmate or her duties for the Alliance. She spent a majority of her time working as the Shadow Broker, even though many of her ties were severed by deaths. It was assumed that soon, new connections would bubble up, taking the place of old contacts.

Edi was quick to offer alternative solutions as well as suggest different ways to take use of her spare time. The Normandy wasn’t going anywhere, not without Commander Shepard at least. So there was a lot of time spent waiting. Admiral Hackett was also making use of the supercomputer, top of the line vessel for communications. 

Joker of course, could have been happier with a change of destination, but he would live. He played poker on the occasion. Then there were also his visits to the medbay for his medication that he begrudgingly had to take.

In her room, Liara paced back and forth. Glyph attempted to soothe her nerves, assuring that she was doing what she could and anything that needed to be tracked he was taking care of. Still, she felt as though she weren’t doing enough. “Cortez… The Lieutenant suggested I get her flowers. Get well soon flowers to be specific. But I don’t know what would be a good choice,” she rambled, primarily to herself though Glyph and Edi were surly listening.

“Perhaps you should ask another human,” Glyph said.

The asari stopped, only to slump her shoulders and grunt.

“I have asked Joker and he said he does not know Shepard’s favorite flower,” Edi stated.

This conversation was getting her nowhere. 

In the end, it turned out Admiral Hackett knew the answer to that question. He even ordered an extra bouquet for Liara to keep on the Normandy. When Liara finally received the bouquet, she visited Shepard with Edi, Joker, and Vega.

James quickly checked on his rough and tough commander before heading over to walk with Cortez for the day. He was officially joining N7 and desperately needed to update his long time friend.

As he left the room, Liara somewhat awkwardly set down the bouquet next to Colby. “I brought you flowers, Cortez suggested I do so,” she explained.

Shepard eagerly inhaled the scent. “Are you trying to court me?” Colby joked. A crooked smile formed on her face, anything more than that was too painful to hold for more than a second.

The asari blinked. “I… What?” She asked, not quite understanding. Humans had long since done away with typical courting customs and such customs weren’t among typical asari studies.

Joker laughed, but failed to fill Edi in on what was so funny.

Meekly the commander laughed. “I was kidding. Uhm… I don’t know. I’m not used to getting flowers, let alone being in a hospital. Flowers are kind of for proposals, or funerals, or weddings. And, well, I’m not dying…” She muttered. Her reasoning only sounded depressing. Half of her regretted even bringing it up in the first place. Joker was best at making jokes, she wasn’t anywhere near second best.

“I thought it was funny,” Joker said, a smile still plastered on his face.


	5. A Visit from Grunt

A month passed. Most of the deconstruction that was left to the krogan team was finished. Grunt had finally been cleared, not that he would have known it took so long. He was too busy having fun on Earth. Search parties went through busted buildings before he blew them to pieces.

He boarded the medical vessel with Admiral Hackett. Most of the medical personnel were still wary of krogan despite Shepard’s good word for them. Hackett was there less as a personal bodyguard, and more of an Admiral. Anyone going to see Commander Shepard, Earth’s Savior needed to be shown respect, lest they tell Colby.

The less stress she was under the better.

As the two entered the hospital room, Hackett noticed Cortez had finally been transferred to another level. He would be released soon. After that he would be welcomed back to the Alliance fleet to repair shuttles.

A nurse was leaving the room as quickly as she could manage without actually running. From further inside the room was yelling, “My ass hurts! I want to get out of this damned bed!”

Grunt passed the Admiral. “They won’t let you off bed rest, huh, Commander?” He chuckled.

Colby looked passed Grunt to see Admiral Hackett shake his head, telling her he hadn’t known about her situation for the most part. She hesitated. Then lifted her hips to the air to the best of her ability and pulled the blanket and sheet out from under her. “Doctor gets mad at me if I undress the wounds, but-” she pulled the blanket back.

Even if Grunt hadn’t known human physiology as well as he did from his short time on Earth and aboard the Normandy, he would have noticed the awkward curve caused by her missing ilium and iliac crest of her pelvis.

“Damn.”

Her doctor walked in to update her chart at the foot of her bed. “How’s the leg feeling, Commander “I’ve have gotten to the Citadel without the damn leg if it meant Liara would be safe” Shepard?”

“I’m fine, Doc Ock,” Shepard replied wiggling her arms at her sides and laughing. Had she not responded in a similar fashion, he might have been written up for insubordination. Colby glanced up at Hackett, “I’ve known Dr. Ock since I was a kid,” she clarified. “Uh, this is Doctor Scott Octavius, kinda like the old vids.”

The admiral nodded in understanding. Grunt stood there, knowing it was probably an earth thing that he wouldn’t understand.

“You seem fine to me. Wrex told me to tell you “Clan Urdnot is happy to see you well, Commander” if you weren’t blown to smithereens,” Grunt announced.

Colby laughed. “Grunt, I probably won’t have this awesome curvature next time I see you or Wrex, but you better tell him all about it!”

“Of course, Shepard.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this on and off for about a month maybe. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Feel free to send me promts on my art blog skeletalmergoat.tumblr.com or my main blog mergoat.tumblr.com


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